GETTING ANSWERS: River Road

PIEDMONT, SC (FOX Carolina) - “Getting Answers” is tackling issues on River Road, in the Piedmont area, this week.

Fox Carolina has received multiple submissions about the road. And the state’s Department of Transportation says River Road has received the most pothole patching work requests to Anderson County Maintenance in the past year.

Patricia Garrett was one of the drivers who submitted to Fox Carolina.

“The potholes are really bad. They come and repair them. It rains,” Garrett said, The trucks—big trucks that go up and down the road knock them out.”

Garrett has lived there since 1994. And Jessica Whitener grew up in the area.

“I remember, as a kid, going to the skating rink, at the end of the road. Well, that’s what it used to be. And that road has always been horrible,” whitener said, “I am 31 years old now.”

Whitener says the drive is a disaster.

“It’s just like the whole is just diminished. And you can tell where they’ve came out, and they’ve tried to patch it, and patch it, and patch it, and patch it. And it just keeps going back to what it was. It just needs to be re-done,” Whitener said.

The part of the road Garret complained about was from Anderson Street until you get to the V-Go gas station. Interestingly enough, once you get toward Highway 153 in Powdersville; you’ll see it has been recently paved.

“We were coming down River Road. We hit a hole, busted a tire, bent a rim,” said Garrett.

Garrett says once it happened to a few others, they brought their concerns to state officials. And then, she noticed that part was paved. However, she says crews never made it the part of the road where she lives.

“They repaved River Road from 153 to 85. And then, they stopped,” Garrett said.

Representative West Cox says he’s aware of the problems residents have with the road.

“We get a lot of calls about that road,” Cox said.

The SCDOT says it has received and completed 35 work requests.

“One thing the DOT does is—they haven’t borrowed money to pave these roads. They wait until the money comes in. They put out a list. And then, they also bid these roads out in bundles,” said Cox.

SCDOT says the road is scheduled for full-depth reclamation with repaving with asphalt after the reclamation process reconstructs the roadway base throughout. It’s a part of their 2022 resurfacing project.

Cox assures your gas tax money is being used for the roads. He says Highway 81 was paved, for example.

“We do have a lot of roads. And DOT can’t ride them every day. Representatives and folks can’t ride it every day. So, it’s important that if you do have a road issue to report it, so we can work on it,” Cox said.

And the residents are looking forward to it.

“It would be nice if it would be a smoother ride. And we wouldn’t have to worry about having to swerve left, or swerve right, or get in the other lane, or go off the side of the road,” Whitener said.

The resurfacing project will cover River Road from Langston Road to Highway 86, according to the SCDOT. It’s expected to go out for bids this December.

Submit a roadway here.

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